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Secure documents

Cory Doctorow at 2:45 pm Fri, Feb 22, 2013

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More scenes from a book tour: SECURE DOCUMENTS!

Secure documents do not enter sign, Pasadena High, Houston, TX, USA

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE:  photos • signs • tx • wide

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  • Donald Petersen

    Wouldn’t dream of it.

  • http://twitter.com/KevSaund Kevin Saunders

    That’s probably where the state tests are held. Having worked in a Texas school during testing time that sign is nothing to be trifled with. Staffers will tackle you.

  • Sean Lally

    That should keep them out.

  • Scott Croom

    Yup, that is exactly what that sign is Kevin. Testing documents of some sort are stored in that room. Basically, that means that the room is only accessible to the testing coordinator and maybe the principal. Someone that isn’t absolutely and totally authorized to be in there ending up in there and the state finds out about it, well all hell breaks loose.
    First off, that’ll count as a MAJOR “testing irregularity”. Chances are, at least one person is losing their job. Next, the school may very well have to completely invalidate any and all tests that have been done recently, as in this year, or they may have to totally retest recent tests. Either way, it would get really expensive. Especially since they’re Title 1, that testing is serious high stakes.

  • Finnagain

    No, they don’t. They’re inanimate, you see.

  • http://twitter.com/HubrisSonic HubrisSonic

    [knock, knock] Banana-gram!

    • morcheeba

      no ma’am, I’m just a porpoise… 

    • http://www.markcrummett.com crummett

       ”I was just looking at it!”

  • toobigtofail

    The only thing that stops a bad guy with documents is a good guy with documents.

  • Scott Croom

    Also, it’s in Pasadena Texas, not Houston. 

    • http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

      I briefly dated a girl from Pasadena. Briefly.

      She was nice in her way, but by our 5th encounter (barely dates, she would appear and disappear at my place in a bit of a whirlwind and I only ventured into her neighbourhood twice) I had learned her father was in the Klan, her ex was always around, trying to lure her into his awful amateur porn ventures, everyone, her parents, siblings and their partners and various ex’s, had an exceptional habitual chemical vice in one form or another and firearms, often in poor repair, displayed or laying about the house, near windows…just in case. It was frankly just a bit much.

      Totally open though and fun to talk to, we remained friends, she could come over as long as it was just her or her+ her 2 kids.

      I met her at the courthouse downtown, because I’m fairly polite about privacy and courthouses are excellent places to exercise such discretion, it wasn’t until our second encounter/date that I learned she was there filing papers against a local surgeon, for adding a few millimeters to the requested augmentation.

      Pasadena, where the air is unique and so is the brain damage. C’mon, the bulk of it is all within 10 miles of 610, you know it’s Houston, we all did. Just a special part.

      But that was all like 20 years ago, it is probably totally different now.

      • Bear Naff

        In the last twenty years, Pasadena has gone from being “that place where all the pickup trucks go to roost” to just another poor section of Houston.  However, the thrift-store shopping there is still amazing, if you know where to go.

  • soylent_plaid

    Well, if I was in high school I know where I’d want to poke my head into.

  • Brainspore

    I bet there’s a door at Fort Knox with a taped-on sign that says “GOLD BRICKS, DO NOT ENTER” just to catch the would-be thieves.

    • soylent_plaid

       Right beside the big red button marked “DO NOT PUSH” that opens the trap door straight into the brig.

  • Philboyd Studge

    NOBUDY CUMZ IN HERE / SEKRIT

    • http://twitter.com/HubrisSonic HubrisSonic

       Take him to the pitt!

  • Justin J. Snelgrove

    To be fair, there is a deadbolt on the door.

    Though, also to be fair, it does kind of paint a target on the room, too.

    • ldobe

      How much you wanna bet the deadbolt isn’t locked, and has the same key as the handle lock?

      When I was in high school, the building was “brand new” (finished construction 2002), and I could use my student ID card (or any sufficiently stiff card) to open any locked door in the school, except the chemistry labs (which were always deadbolted and had a jam guard.)

      • http://www.facebook.com/justin.sabe Justin Sabe

        In my much older school it finally occurred to the art teacher to ask how I had managed to open up the locked art room for lunch and homeroom. My answer was “Screwdriver”

  • Snig

    If I were an administrator, I’d totally put that up as a false flag operation. 

  • peregrinus

    It’s a recruitment test.  You tell the applicant they can’t move more than 5 feet from where they stand, give them a binder marked “Classified”, and that they must follow all the instructions on the door.

  • Josef Stalin

    My comrades made a simple error.

    Should read: Hidden door. Do not open!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=20904881 Tom Buckholz

    Well, I was hoping to steal a mop but I guess I’ll take the documents if that’s all there is.

  • http://voidstar.com/ jbond

    Is that the cupboard where we put the laptop to download JSTOR and PACER? And where the homeless person keeps their stuff?

  • http://twitter.com/AmberCami Amber

    You know they mean business because they capitalized the word ‘enter.’

  • http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

    Cory you’re a true humanitarian reaching out to spread the good word, if you are willing to go to Pasadena. My view is dated, maybe it was nice.

  • toyg

    For some reason, this is the only thing I could think of

  • Felton / Moderator

    So much for security through obscurity.

  • jhertzli

    How do we know “secure” isn’t a verb?